Churches undertake volunteer work at home and abroad

Sep. 28, 2013

Volunteers Maggie Hauser, left, and Sandy Smits sort loaves of bread at the De Pere Christian Outreach Food Pantry A number of churches in the Green Bay area are going to participate in Make a Difference Day on Oct. 26, including Hope Lutheran Church in De Pere, which actively supports the pantry. / File/Gannett Wisconsin Media

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Press-Gazette Media

Local events

The Volunteer Center of Brown County is offering residents a number of volunteer activities to choose from — both on Make a Difference Day Oct. 26 and during the surrounding days for those who need a little flexibility. • Neighborhood Volunteer Connection: Doing fall yard work for seniors and people with disabilities. The work takes place from Oct.15-Nov. 15 at a time agreed upon by the homeowner and the volunteers. • Cards for seniors: Press-Gazette Media will be one of two host sites for families to make holiday cards that can be sent to seniors throughout the year. • Bethesda Thrift Shop: Help raise funds to support programs for people with disabilities by helping at the Bethesda Thrift Shop. Tasks include cleaning, sorting, pricing, merchandising and displaying donated items for sale. • Brown County Human Services Department: Assist with a variety of tasks at The Gathering Place Victory Garden, a recovery center for people with mental illness, including planting bulbs, building and repair projects and fall garden cleanup. • Greater Green Bay YMCA: Assist with family-friendly Halloween activities including Halloween parties and the Aurora BayCare Spooky Sprint Race Day. • Make a Difference Day Party for Seniors: Help create activities for seniors at a party at the Aging and Disability Resource Center. • NEW Zoo: Family-friendly volunteering: running children’s activities, decorating, taking tickets, etc., at Zoo Boo, the NEW Zoo’s largest fundraising event.

To learn more

Contact volunteercenter@volunteergb.org, call (920) 429-9445 or go to volunteergb.org. To learn about options in other communities, go to pointsoflight.org/signature-events/make-difference-day.

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Close to home and across state lines and international boarders, churches and other religious organizations work to make a difference through a number of volunteer activities.

From cooking and serving meals at local shelters, to larger scale housing and quality of life projects in other states and countries, parishioners offer up their time and services to help others.

“We have a youth mission trip; an adult mission trip; our youth group will be going out Wednesday to work at St. Vincent de Paul; one of our groups cooks meals for homeless shelter; and they work at nursing homes,” Lori Burroughs, administrative assistant at First United Church of Christ in Green Bay. “That’s just a few of the things we do.”

That kind of volunteer work is part of a key outreach missions — locally and globally — for churches around the area. A number of churches in the Green Bay area are going to participate in Make a Difference Day on Oct. 26.

Among its efforts, Hope Lutheran Church in De Pere actively supports De Pere Christian Outreach and its food pantry and serving food at a homeless shelter. Congregation members have also undertaken overseas projects, including a medical mission to Haiti.

“In my experience in being in ministry, when a person makes the commitment to do overseas of foreign missions ... they are so energized by being with people who have so much less that when they come back they are more inspired to do local missions,” said Pastor Bo Baumeister at Hope Lutheran. “If you go on a foreign mission and come back you are more passionate to live your faith and make a difference locally.”

First United Church of Christ youth mission trip has undertaken projects in Red Lake, Minn., while the adult mission focused on helping with flood recovery in Montana last year.

Volunteer work helps foster a sense of community, as well as broadening the horizons of volunteers, Burroughs said. She is one of the leaders of the church’s youth group and youth mission trip.

“It’s the satisfaction of seeing the kids grow,” Burroughs said.

Baumeister said giving back to the community and helping others is the core of living a religion. Even seemingly small efforts can make a significant difference.

“We are not to be simply receivers, we are to be givers as well,” he said. “In some ways, it doesn’t matter the size of the act. It’s what God’s will does through that. Some of the smallest, almost insignificant things to the people doing them were enormous to the person receiving because it sends the message that there is someone out there who actually cares.”